Dada Sare Abdullahi: A brief biography

Alhajiya Maimunatu Abdullahi, also known as Dadasare or Dada Sare, was a Fulani woman from Adamawa State who lived between 1918 and 1984. She was born in Gola, in the Bajama district of Adamawa. She was the first woman in Northern Nigeria to become a journalist, a trained nurse, an author, an educationist, a recorded musical artiste, the founder and president of a women’s association.

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She was the recipient of the prestigious Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) which the Gowon administration gave her in 1970 in recognition of her uncommon yet, brilliant accomplishments and contributions to the development of the country.

Dadasare was nicknamed “Mrs. East” due to the relationship she had with Dr. Rupert M. East. Mr East was the father of contemporary Hausa literature who also founded the region’s best-known newspapers, the ‘Nigerian Citizen’ and the ‘Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo’ where Dadasare worked as a reporter/columnist in the early 1940s.

In 1975 she completed her autobiography in which she recounts the story of her life. The book details her origin, a horrible kidnap incident at the fragile age of 11,etc. A white British colonial officer raped her repeatedly, thereby impregnating her. She also documents her struggle with spirituality as she searches for the truth in Christianity and Islam.

She soon converted to Christianity and was baptized in the Wusasa mission.

The title, ‘It Can Now Be Told’, came out of the consideration that her story could be released since Dr. East had died. Both his demise and the book’s completion occurred within the same year. The title of the book, upon publication, was It Can Now Be Told. The book was published in 2018 and it has 128 pages.

Dadasare had wanted the book to be published 35 years ago but it was only published after her demise.

Dadasare died by drowning in 1984. She had jumped into a well. She had already sustained considerable damage by the time she was taken to the hospital. After her death, rumours began to spread that she had committed suicide.